GHSA-r3r2-35v9-v238

Suggest an improvement
Source
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-r3r2-35v9-v238
Import Source
https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2026/03/GHSA-r3r2-35v9-v238/GHSA-r3r2-35v9-v238.json
JSON Data
https://api.osv.dev/v1/vulns/GHSA-r3r2-35v9-v238
Aliases
Published
2026-03-23T21:40:10Z
Modified
2026-05-20T08:11:14.334562990Z
Severity
  • 7.3 (High) CVSS_V3 - CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H CVSS Calculator
Summary
Briefcase: Windows MSI Installer Privilege Escalation via Insecure Directory Permissions
Details

Impact

If a developer uses Briefcase to produce an Windows MSI installer for a project, and that project is installed for All Users (i.e., per-machine scope), the installation process creates an directory that inherits all the permissions of the parent directory. Depending on the location chosen by the installing user, this may allow a low privilege but authenticated user to replace or modify the binaries installed by the application. If an administrator then runs the altered binary, the binary will run with elevated privileges.

Patches

The problem is caused by the template used to generate the WXS file for Windows projects. It was fixed with the following PRs:

  • beeware/briefcase-windows-app-template#86
  • beeware/briefcase-windows-VisualStudio-template#85

These patches have been backported to the templates used in Briefcase 0.3.26, 0.4.0, and 0.4.1. Re-running briefcase create on your Briefcase project will result in the updated templates being used.

Workarounds

The change from beeware/briefcase-windows-app-template#86 can be added to any existing Briefcase .wxs file generated by Briefcase 0.3.24 or later.

Resources

beeware/briefcase#2759 is a formal bug report of the problem.

Database specific 
{
    "cwe_ids": [
        "CWE-732"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": true,
    "nvd_published_at": "2026-03-26T17:16:38Z",
    "github_reviewed_at": "2026-03-23T21:40:10Z",
    "severity": "HIGH"
}
References

Affected packages

PyPI / briefcase

Package

Name
briefcase
View open source insights on deps.dev
Purl
pkg:pypi/briefcase

Affected ranges

Type
ECOSYSTEM
Events
Introduced
0.3.0
Fixed
0.3.26

Affected versions

0.*
0.3.0
0.3.1
0.3.2
0.3.3
0.3.4
0.3.5
0.3.6
0.3.7
0.3.8
0.3.9
0.3.10rc7
0.3.10rc8
0.3.10
0.3.11rc4
0.3.11
0.3.12
0.3.13
0.3.14
0.3.15
0.3.16
0.3.17
0.3.18
0.3.19
0.3.20
0.3.21
0.3.22
0.3.23
0.3.24
0.3.25
0.3.26rc5

Database specific

source 
"https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2026/03/GHSA-r3r2-35v9-v238/GHSA-r3r2-35v9-v238.json"